'Lost chapter'

"Never, mum. I did not trust you, mum. And. I. Pulled air hard and balled it down into my navel, and let it out slow and firm, clean and without bumps out of my mouth, loud and clear over a shoulder, into her ear. 'I am a homosexual, mum,'" he wrote.

Mr Wainaina's article was styled as a "lost chapter" from his 2011 memoir One Day I Will Write About This Place.

"Of course my friends knew, but I had been toying with how useful it would be to make a public statement for close to eight months," he told the GlobalPost news website on Monday.

He won the 2002 Caine Prize for African Writing for his short story, Discovering Home.

Gay and lesbian people risk a jail-term of up to 10 years if they are convicted of homosexual acts in Kenya.

Most religious groups in Kenya and other African countries are strongly opposed to homosexuality, saying it is un-African.

Human rights groups are meanwhile campaigning for anti-homosexual laws to be overturned.